Wernberg Castle

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Wernberg Castle
Wernberg Castle (2011)

Wernberg Castle (2011)

Creation time : First mentioned in 1280
Castle type : Höhenburg, spur location
Conservation status: Receive
Place: Wernberg-Köblitz - "Schlossberg"
Geographical location 49 ° 32 '21.6 "  N , 12 ° 9' 55.8"  E Coordinates: 49 ° 32 '21.6 "  N , 12 ° 9' 55.8"  E
Height: 415  m above sea level NN
Wernberg Castle (Bavaria)
Wernberg Castle

The Burg Wernberg is located in the Upper Palatinate Forest in Bavaria in a flat promontory ( 415  m above sea level.  NN ) above the market Wernberg . The castle complex is well preserved and was used continuously for a few years. At the end of the 20th century, it was converted into a castle hotel with a gourmet restaurant and conference facilities and the so-called building of ideas was added. Seminars and conferences take place in this glass building surrounded by forest. The historic castle hotel and the restaurant are used for celebrations such as weddings.

location

The castle is located at a point where important traffic routes from south to north intersect with those from east to west: Today it is the A93 , an important north-south connection, and the A6 , which connects Western Europe with Eastern Central Europe.

history

Overview of the entire system

Wernberg Castle was located in the middle of the extensive domain of the Landgraves of Leuchtenberg . In 1280 the castle was first mentioned in a sales contract. The Leuchtenbergers transferred the castle with the name "Werdenberch" to Konrad von Paulsdorf . His daughter Adelheid married Engelhard Notthracht von Wildstein, whereby Wernberg came into the possession of the Notthracht family . 1367 was Henry I Notthafft his own free Burg Wernberg the Kingdom of Bohemia to feud on; the fiefdom bond with Bohemia lasted until the Peace of Bratislava in 1805.

Wernberg Castle was the headquarters of the Wernberg line of the Notthracht family. In 1509 they sold Georg, Kaspar, Heinrich, Hans and Bernhard Notthracht Wernberg to Georg Wispeck von Velburg . In 1530 the castle and the Wernberg lordship were bought back by the Landgraves of Leuchtenberg. After the Leuchtenberger line died out, Wernberg came to spa Bavaria in 1647 . Various lordly offices were housed at the castle until the 19th century ; the building functioned as a prison from 1804 . Since 1861 the old walls served as a forced labor house and rescue facility for fallen women and neglected girls . In 1873 the demolition of the historic building was considered, but this was rejected. In 1918 the castle came into the possession of the Counts Schall-Riacour, who had last rented it out as refugee accommodation.

Wernberg Castle as the seat of Nothracht and Leuchtenberg

In the Middle Ages and the early modern period , the Magdeburger Strasse ran south-north and led from the Alpine region to the Baltic Sea. The so-called “forbidden road”, an alternative route to the “Golden Road” , which connected the centers of Frankfurt , Nuremberg and Prague , led from east to west .

Although structural remains indicate that the castle is older, it was first mentioned in a document in 1280, when the Landgraves Friedrich II and Gebhard IV von Leuchtenberg sold it to Konrad von Paulsdorf . Konrad von Paulsdorf in turn assigned the castle to his son-in-law Heinrich Notthracht von Wildstein as a wedding property . In 1367 the Nothaft put the free Wernberg Castle under the feudal rule of the Bohemian Crown . The fiefdom bond with Bohemia lasted until the Peace of Pressburg in 1805. Until 1509, Wernberg Castle remained in the possession of Notthracht , of whom Heinrich the Rich expanded the castle for fortification in connection with the Hussite Wars , before it was sold to Jörg Wiespeck . His son Adam sold the castle together with the Markt Luhe to Landgrave Johann IV von Leuchtenberg around 1530 . This redesigned the castle courtyard in the Renaissance style .

During the Thirty Years' War , Wernberg Castle was captured and plundered by Mansfeld troops in 1621. In 1634 the castle was occupied by Swedish and then imperial troops . At the end of the war the castle was in a desolate state.

Wernberg Castle between the 30-year war and the end of the old empire

Depiction of Wernberg Castle from 1667

The Leuchtenbergers died in 1646 with Maximilian Adam von Leuchtenberg . Wernberg Castle thus fell after a lengthy inheritance dispute as a settled fiefdom of the Bohemian crown , which gave it to Count Franz Christoph von Khevenhüller in 1649 , but who died in 1650. His heirs sold the estate two years later to the elector Maximilian of Bavaria , who transferred the castle to his son Maximilian Philipp Hieronymus . Since he died in 1705 without leaving an heir, Emperor Josef I, in his role as Bohemian king, took over the rule of Wernberg as a Bohemian fief and lent it to his chief stable master, Prince Matthias Leopold von Lamberg .

After the War of the Spanish Succession , the rule of Wernberg was transferred back to the Wittelsbach family ; they used the castle from 1714 to 1803 as the Leuchtenberg maintenance office .

Wernberg Castle in the 19th century

In the new Kingdom of Bavaria (from 1806) the castle became the property of the Bavarian state: From 1805 to 1822 the Nabburg Rent Office was there . Then it was used briefly as a royal forestry office and as a branch of the Ebrach forced labor house. From 1860, the castle was a girls' and women's home under the care of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd , who had their first German establishment in Munich from 1840: It was used as an "employment facility for fallen women" and as a "rescue and educational institution for neglected girls of school age ”. However, this commitment only lasted six years because it was too difficult to supply the home with water.

The castle was empty from 1866 to 1873. Since the state and the municipality saw no use for the castle, the demolition of the historic building was considered in 1873; However, this was then discarded and the castle was sold to various private individuals: In 1873 the state sold the old castle for 1000 guilders to the retired Prussian captain Karl von Peritzhof. He was followed by Franz and Pauline Zapf in 1891, Major August Boshart in 1893 and Major Otto Freiherr von Roman in 1894.

In 1899 Rudolf Freiherr von Brenken became the new owner and bought the surrounding land along with the castle. He arranged for an interior renovation and, as a great friend of nature and youth, had the park in the southeast and a tennis court laid out. The citizens of Wernberg were allowed to use both the park and the sports facilities. As a result, the relationship between the lord of the castle and the citizens of the community, which had often been aloof until then, improved. Rudolf Freiherr von Brenken died in 1915 and found his final resting place in the area of ​​the former park. Today there is a residential area.

Wernberg Castle in the 20th century

The heirs of Brenkens sold the castle in 1918 for 175,000 marks to the royal Saxon cavalry captain Andreas Graf Schall-Riaucour from Dresden. Both the Rittmeister and his family initially lived at the castle and kept the facility in family ownership until 1992. During this period there was also a devastating fire in the winter of 1942, which almost completely destroyed the west wing and large parts of the adjoining south wing. Only the castle chapel - with the exception of the roof structure - was spared the effects of the fire. It was particularly devastating that there was not enough water on the Schlossberg and icy temperatures caused the water that was to be pumped up from the lower Schilterbach to freeze in the hoses. French prisoners of war interned in the Wernberg brewery were also used to fight the fire.

The burned out west wing remained in ruins until 1946; An emergency roof was built over the damaged chapel roof. Reconstruction only began after the war.

Since the Schall-Riaucour family did not manage to ensure an adequate water supply for the castle, the facilities that used the castle changed frequently: in 1952 the Löw'sche water cure was offered at Wernberg Castle, and the castle was open from 1963 to 1980 , funded by the Lower Saxony State Social Welfare Office, a home for physically and mentally handicapped children. The home was closed in 1980 and Wernberg Castle was used as refugee accommodation from then until 1993 .

In the early 1980s there were considerations to convert the castle into a museum. In 1992 the Schall-Riaucourt family sold the partly uninhabitable castle to the municipality of Wernberg-Köblitz, which it leased to the Conrad Electronic company . On July 15, 1993, the new owners made the decision in favor of today's castle hotel, which was historically renovated by the Conrad Electronic company.

The Conrad Electronic company , the community and public subsidies invested 27 million German marks to develop the castle into a first-class hotel, which opened in 1998. The Conrad family leased the castle for 99 years. The hotel closed in June 2019.

The buildings have been used by the Vincera Private Clinic for psychosomatics and psychotherapy since 2020 .

Building

Building history

year Construction project
around 1250 Keep demonstrable
around 1280 Defensive wall, pent roofs on the inside
14th century Zwinger, gate building, ditch, wall, Pallas in the east, residential buildings in the east and west (Gothic construction phase)
15th century Arcades, inner courtyard, closing the gap between the keep and the west building (Renaissance)
30 years war Heavy damage; poor receipt
1720 Collapse of the western wall, new Pallas in the west with overbuilding of the Zwinger (baroque phase), construction of the castle chapel with sacristy as a free-standing building
Around 1730 Tubular water pipe
1860 Considerations for the demolition of the castle, but sale to Hauptmann von Peritzhoff (1873); first conversions for residential purposes
Around 1900 Extension of the castle park, there also a tennis court (also for community members)
1919 Sold to Graf Schall-Riaucour
1942 Fire in the west and south wings
1992 Acquisition by the municipality of Wernberg-Köblitz
1998 Completion of the renovation work

renovation

The renovation and expansion work began with extensive documentation. During the examination of the findings, the former south-eastern entrance was discovered, as were old sandstone window frames or fragments of ancient wall paintings. The existing structure and many fragments from the 15th / 16th centuries. Century were largely included in the renovation.

First the property around the castle was renovated, then the prince's hall and the adjoining rooms such as the library, the fireplace room and the half-timbered room; which is used today as the registry office of the Wernberg-Köblitz market. The collapsed former prince's building ( Palas ) in the north wing was rebuilt and the roof structures, the z. B. from the 15th / 16th Century, were renovated according to the historical model and the roofs re-covered. At the same time, annoying fixtures from the time it was used as a children's home or refugee accommodation were removed. This should make the historical room sizes tangible again. The former battlement was added and the inner courtyard at the gatehouse was exposed. The existing structure was restored and preserved as much as possible. The renovated castle was ready for occupancy from May 1998 for the new use as a conference and hotel business.

The Bauhaus architect Michele De Lucchi planned a separate new building for the modern and large rooms in the “Thought Building ”, the seminar area of ​​the hotel , which was located on the site of the former nursery.

Todays use

Wernberg Castle has been used as an upscale hotel since 1998. The castle is in first class condition and is furnished with antique furniture. The company Conrad Electronic and the community raised 27 million German marks , taking into account public subsidies . The “Kastell” restaurant in Wernberg Castle is well known and received high ratings in restaurant guides. From 2001 Christian Jürgens cooked there , from 2008 Thomas Kellermann , since June 2018 Robert Morgan. After a gastronomic realignment, in March 2019 the restaurant lost the two Michelin stars with which it had been awarded since 2002.

Web links

Commons : Burg Wernberg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ By Isolde Stöcker-Gietl March 24, 2019 2:30 p.m .: Burghotel Wernberg closes. Retrieved May 25, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Burg Wernberg Schlossberg 10 92533 Wernberg-Köblitz: Burg Wernberg - Upper Palatinate Forest - your vacation in Bavaria, cycling, hiking, culture. Retrieved May 25, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Mittelbayerische.de: Burghotel Wernberg closes
  4. ↑ How to find us - Vincera Klinik Burg Wernberg. Retrieved May 25, 2020 .
  5. ↑ restaurant-ranglisten.de: Robert Morgan is the new head chef in the »Kastell« at Wernberg Castle